Apparatus for making tire casings



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APPARATUS FOR MAKING TIRE CASINGS Filed May 15, 192s 'g sheets-shew; 1

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J. D. TEW

APPARATUS FOR MAKING TIRE CASINGS Filed May 15, 1925 z'sneets-sneet 24[rave-@IW- Jame; @zu

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NEW YRK, lil. Y., A. CORPORATIN F NEW YRK. y

.a a: TUS .FR 't L Gi TE CASHIGS.

To all 'whom' tima/y concern.'

Be it known that l, JAMES D. Tnw, a citizen of the United States,residing at l-ludson, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Making 'lire Casings, ofwhich the following isa specification.

rlhis invention relates to apparatus for making pneumatic vehicletires., and more particularly tires which arerst formed as a laterallyat or substantially dat annular band and then formed to tire shape byexpanding the middle or tread portion of the band. My invention isespecially advantageous in the* construction of tires from weak-wettedor weftless cord fabric, since in its use the tire plies may-bestretched to tire shape with substantially uniform tension throughout,so that the tire subsequent- 1y mayA be vulcanized on an inexpansiblecore with substantially as good results as have heretofore been obtainedby the use of an expansible core in the vulcanizing operation, and withless expense.

Prior to my invention tires have been formed by stretching the middleportion of a flat, completely built tire band, as by the application ofdiderential fluid pressures to the opposite faces of the band, or bforcing such portion outward by means o radially method lrequiresexpensive apparatus and involves `difticulties of manipulation, as inthe matter of accurately mounting the tire in or on the expandingapparatus, and the use of radially acting core sections such asheretofore-have been employed is not adapted to produce such uniformstretching of the band asl` obtain. Moreover, in all prior practice, sofar as I am aware, the band has been formed on one support and thenremoved therefrom and associated with other apparatus for the expandingoperation.

My general object is to provide simple and improved apparatus androcedure for forming a tire from a latera ly dat band of tire buildingmaterial. More s ecihc objects are to stretch the band uni mi to reducethe number of steps involv dby shaping the band upon the support whereonit is built, without transferring it from one apparatus to another, andto reduce a red tire of goed quality without the use of an expansiblecore in the vulcanizing operation.

Of the accompanying drawings:

lBig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a preferred form ofapparatus embodying and adapted to carry out my invention, and a tireband built thereon.

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view, from the same view point as Fig.l., of part of the apparatus and the tire band after the latter has beenexpanded to tire form.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of a radially actingslide and a bandmanipulating sprin plate hinged thereto.

Fig. 4, is an en elevation of my tire building drum, and a finished tirethereon, with parts broken away.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4,

showing the method of removing the finished tire from the apparatus.Referring to the drawings, isa base or support, provided with a pair ofaligned bearings 10a, 10a in which is rotatably mounted a screw shaft11, one end of which overhangs from said base, is formed with right-handand left-hand threads 12 and 13, and is provided with a hand crank 14.15 is a stop collar adjustably secured upon the shaft 11 to retain theshaft in its bearings but to permit it to slide axially therein.

Mounted upon the overhanging threaded end of the shaft l1 is a hollowdrulnl, comprising. vertically-disposed, centrallyapertured and threadeddisk-like end members 17. and 18, screwingl onto the threads 12 and i13respectively, the latter threaol,l3, on the outer portion of the shaft,being of less diameter than the thread 12, so that in assembling theparts of the apparatus the inner or rear end-members 17 may pass freelyover the thread 13 to screw upon the thread 12. 'llhe outer, verticalface of each end or disk member of the pair is formed with a circularseries of radial grooves 19, 19 extending radially inward from its outerperiphery. Mounted in each. of the grooves '19 is a slide 20, the mainbody portion of which is flush with the outer face of its supportingdisk, said slide having, near its inner end, an outwardly projecting camroller 21.. rl`he several rollers of the eet on each disk occupyindividual cam roovee 22, 22 in the inner face of a cam pte at,rotatably neet/ed on trai been or huh toV 24 formed on the outer face ofthe respective disk, 17 or 18, and held thereon by a retaining plate 25secured to the hub of the disk. The cam plates 23 are thus adapted toretain the slides 2O intheir radial `grooves and to slide them from andtoward the axis of the drum when the cam plates are turned. For turningthe cam plates, each is formed with a pair of adjacent apertures 26, 26adapted to receive the lugs of a spanner wrench or handle 27, wherebythe series of radial slides 2O may be expanded and contracted. While themajor portion of each cam slot 22 is oblique to the adjacent peripheryof the cam plate, for expanding and contracting the series of slides,the outer end portion of each slot is concentric with the cam late, asshown in Fig. d, for locking the silides in their outermost positions.rIhe retaining plate 25 secured to the rear disk 17 abuts the adjacentshaft-bearing 10t and is provided with an annular series of threadedapertures 28, 28 adapted alternatively to` receive the threaded innerend of a cylindrical lookin -bolt 29, havin a knurled head 29% said oltbeing rotatalily mounted in an apertured boss 30 on the base 10. Thestem of said bolt is formed with a circumferential groove 29", definedby a stop-shoulder at its front end and a taper at its rear end, saidgroove', when the bolt is in its retracted position, being occupied by aspring-projected plunger 31 which retains the bolt in its mounting andfrictionally holds it retracted but permits it to be pressed inward androtated when it is desired to thread it into one of the apertures 28 toprevent rotation of the drum 16 and axial movement of the end member 17.

Each of the slides 20 is formed at its outer end with a laterallyprojecting portion 32 of greater width than the groove 19` in which theslide is mounted, saidv wide ortion being offset so as to clear therespective end member 17 or 18, and move radially inward along the outerface of the latter when the slides are drawn toward the axis .of thedrum. rl`he off-set portions are preferably of suchwidth'circumferentially of the drum as to be approximately in contactwith each other when the slides are at their innermost positions.

rllhe immediate support for the tire-band, 33, is made up of a circularseries of spring plates 34, 34, arranged about the outer peripheries ofthe end members 17 A18, span- Yning'the space between the latter, eachplate being hinged, as at 35,35, to the lateral projections@ of theyslides 20, so as to be owed outward at their middle portions to stretchthe middle ortionof the tire band when the end mem ers are moved towardeach other, and to return toa Hattened condition, a ainst the outer endfaces of the.

slides, w said end members are again separated, as shown in fFig. 1. Theouter` end faces of the slides are preferably so sloped, as shown bestin Fig. 5, as to hold the spring plates in a slightly bowed or archedcondition even when the end members are farthest apart, so as to assurethat the middle portions of the plates will bow outward and not inwardwhen the end members are moved toward each other.

The plates 34'limit the separation of the end members 17, 1'8 and form,when said members are separated and the slides moved to their innermostpositions, a substantially continuous annular surface, substantiallyflat laterally, to receive the tire as the latter is built.

In the operation of my apparatus, the tire band 33 -is built upon thedrum while the parts of the apparatus are as shown in Fig. 1, the drumbeing extended, with the plates 34 substantially flat, the bolt 29 beingiu its retracted position, and the cam plate 23 bein in the positionshownV in Fig. 4, so that t e slides 20 are locked in their outermostpositions, and the drum being rotated by means of the crank 14, ifdesired, to fa- .cilitate the building of the band, the substantiallyflat plates 34 preventing the end members 17, 18, from screwing on theirshaft so long as the member 17 is not strongly held aggfanstv rotation,as by the bolt 29, or so long as the crank is turned only in a directionwhereby said end members are urged away from each other. The stop-collar15 may be secured lin such position on `the shaft as to cooperate withthe retaining plate 25 at the opposite end of the bearing, to preventaxlal movement of the shaft'in this operation. The tire-band 33preferably is constructed of weftless 'or weak-wefted fabric, and lthe aparatus is particularly applicable to the uilding of tires having softor clincher beads, as it does not excessively strain the latter. Allparts of a tire may be incorporated in the tire band, including the beadrcores 33, 33a and tread 33b as shown, or the fabric carcass only mayfirst be built and shaped and the tread and side walls lapplied later.`Wl1en the tire band has been` built upon the drum, the bolt 29 isscrewed into one of the apertures 28 of the end member 17 to hold thedrum stationary, and the handy crank 14 is then turned to rotate theshaft 11 with relation to the end members 17 and 18, in such directionas to drive the end member 18 toward the member 1'7, the plates 34preventing rotary movement of said end members with relation to eachother. As the member 17 is stationary, the threaded shaft screwstherethrough, thus contributing to the movement of the member 17, theshaft 11 sliding4 axially in its bearings while rotating.

.As the endv members 17 18 move toward each other the plates 3a, atfirst but slightly llO ycam plates 23 are so rotated as to draw theslides 20 radially. inward to the position shown in broken lines at 36,36, in Fig. 5, thereby withdrawing the supporting 'spring plates 34 fromfull engagement with the tire casing 33, as shown at 37 in the sameview, the tire preferably being held, by hand or otherwise, inconcentric relation to the drum. The shaft 11 is then rotated in suchdirection as to cause the end member 18 to move away from the end member17, thus flattening the spring plates 34 and with? drawing them vfromwithin the tire, as indicated at 38 in Fig. 5, and continued separationof the end membersreturns the spring plates to their substantially flatpositions, against the'end faces of the slides 20 as in Fi 1. Theflexibility of the tire material mares the Withdrawal of the plates arelatively simple and easy operation. The tire is then removed, the bolt29 is unscrewed from the end member 17 and retracted, the cam platesturned to again expand the drum, and the apparatus is then'ready for arepetition of the building operation.

. After removal from the building drum the tire may be mounted upon asegmental, in-

expansible core and vulcanized and a prod-A uct of good qualityv thusobtained, the

j threads of the tire being -so uniform] stretched in the operationabove describe that the expansible core commonly employed for cord tiresmay be dispensed with.

My invention provides l'simple and inexpensive apparatusand an improvedmethod I for building cord tire casings, whereby the fabric plies' maybe stretched to tire shape withouti'remova from the support ornwhichthey are built. The large number of flexible plates, engaging theworkthroughoutsmall areas respectively and at closelyspaced positions are animportant feature in provid- -ing the proper amount of stretchthroughout the circumference of the tire...without the use offluidpressure. lElimination ofexpansible cores or bags results "n substantialeconomy, since such ba s ai" shorty lived, and usual y r pensive yand nre fluid conoperations, and a l of the operations may be performed byhand power.

My invention is subject to modification within its scope, and I do notwholly limit my claims to the specific apparatus shown nor to the exactprocedure described.

I claim:

l. 1. Tire-building apparatus comprising a circumferential set oftransversely disposed, deformable, tire-stretching structures adapted toform substantially a. cylindrical structure to receive a transverselyflat, endless band of tire-building material, means for deforming saidstructures lto stretch the middle portion of said band, and additionalmeans for moving said structures radially, each as a whole, while theyare so deformed, to change the effective diameter of their compositestructure.

2. Tire-building apparatus comprisin a slide-supporting structure, an"expandlble and contractable circular set of slides mounted thereon, asecond slide-supporting structure and a substantially similar set ofslidesmounted thereon, said second set of lslides being coaxialwithrelation to the fiist set, deformable tire-stretching structures leachhinged to and connecting a slide of one set with a slide of the otherset, means lfor moving said -slide-supportingl structures toward andfrom each other, and means for expanding and contracting said sets ofslides.

3. ,Tire-building a paratus comprising a circumferential set of3transversely disposed, deformable, tire-stretchin structures adapted toconstitute substantially a cylindrical support for an endless .band oftire-building material, and to be forced outwardly at their middleportions to stretch the middle portion of said band circumferentially,supports for the ends of said structures, the latter being hinged tosaid supports, and a rotatable cam-plate concentrically mounted withrelation to said set of structures for expanding and contracting thelatter.

4. Tire-building apparatus comprising a circumferential series ofmembers adapted to engage the inner face of an endless band of tirebuilding material at a multiplicity of positions, the series beingadapted to be expanded to stretch vsaid band.,- and 'a cam structureadapted to actua-te said members simultaneously to move them from ortoward the center of the series.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set .amy'iliand this 8th day of May,1923.

JAMES D. TEW'.

